The Neemrana Music Foundation presents "Hair" Famous Broadway Musical at Purana Quila > 25th-28th February 2011

Time : 7:00 pm

Entry : by Donor Passes, Available at :
Neemrana Music Shop, Khan Market, New Delhi
Venue Info : Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Khan Market'

Place : Purana Quila, Mathura Road, New Delhi
Venue Info : About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Pragati Maidan'

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Event Details : The Neemrana Music Foundation presents 'Hair' Famous Broadway Musical
After a short preview in April last year it’s time for a complete tribal rock musical show with the ancient monument acting as a backdrop on which projections will be displayed.
 Seldom has a play or a film had such a profound effect, almost emerging as a cult symbol of the impatient youth of the day, who came to called hippies. Long hair was the hippies' flag – their symbol not only of change but also of new possibilities, a symbol of the rejection of discrimination and restrictive gender roles. It was a rebellious revolution that symbolized equality between men and women.
‘Hair’ is a rock musical from 1967 with the screenplay and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt Mac Dermot. The credo of the characters of the musical ‘Hair’ is: "be free, no guilt, be whoever you are, do whatever you want, just as long as you don't hurt anyone." It was a representation of the youth of America in the sixties, who started protesting at all the things they saw that were wrong with their society and country.
More than half a century later, the play continues to represent a movement for change. If the motive at that time was to protest the current policies, the message now is for inner revolution, since there can be no global peace without inner peace!
A short preview of the play was held in the capital in April 2010, but it is for the first time that the complete tribal rock musical is being staged later this month in the Purana Qila (Old Fort), New Delhi at a specially adapted open air stage, with the ancient monument acting as a backdrop on which projections will be displayed. The performances are being held from 25th to 28th February in the evenings at 7 pm.
A cross-cultural event which will have Indian and European artists, the musical is being organised by the Neemrana Music Foundation, which has since 2002 staged many Opera productions in Delhi and Mumbai, including ‘If I Were a King’,’ Violetta a Traviata’, ‘Carmen’, ‘The Pearl Fishers’ and ‘Fakir of Benares’
According to Antoine Redon, the producer of the musical, “Today, the message of Hair remains as relevant today as it was in the 70s: love, peace, joy and happiness but the means to reach them have been adapted to the Twenty-first century. If the intention of ‘Hair’ in the sixties was to make an outer revolution to stop wars, the intention of ‘Hair’ now in the new millennium century is to make inner revolution. How to face wars? Are love and non-violence not the best weapons? ‘Hair’ 2010 will thus advocate the Gandhian values of ahimsa and satyagraha in his native land.”
With several Indian artists, the production is headed by Antoine Redon and Stefan Kaye as Music Directors, with Antoine conducting the choir and Stefan conducting the band and contributing new arrangements. Somasundaram is the Stage Director; Bhavini Misra from ‘Sadhya’ is the Choreographer; Lional Magal, Philipe Ducroc and Bernard Filipetti from France will provide video projections and unbelievable sets to give a three dimensional effect to the monument; and Catherine Prakash is the casting coordinator with Lucie Salaun as Costume designer.
The cast includes Rajeev Khati (Claude), Antoine Redon (Berger) Pauline Vertadier who is coming especially from France, Bhavini Misra (Sheila), Arya Majumdar (Woof), Alphonso Clifford (Hud), Meghna Bhattacharya (Jeanny), Andru Hoffmann (Claude’s father) and Lola Mathai (Claude’s Mother) and many others. In fact, the performance will see around fifty artistes on stage.
The Musicians include Stefan Kaye (Emperor Minge, Ska Vengers, Medicine Show); Piano/percussion Nikhil Vasudevan (Emperor Minge, Ska Vengers); Drums
Clarence Gonslaves (Them Clones, Joint Family, Emperor Minge); Bass guitar
Kern Dalton (Element 21); Yohei Sato (Ska Vengers) Trombone; and Rie Ona (Ska Vengers) Alto sax.
‘Hair’ tells the story of the ‘tribe’, a group of politically active, long-haired hippies of the Age of Aquarius living a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves and the sexual revolution with their rebellion against the war and their conservative elders and society. Ultimately, Claude must decide whether to resist the draft as his friends have done, or to compromise his pacifistic principles and risk his life by serving his country in Vietnam.
Sex and drugs are used as vehicles to evade reality and the establishment. Skin colours are insignificant songs like - I'm Black. Imagination-Manchester, England lends beauty to a dreary existence. The spirit of communal living finds its expression in yearnings. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement, with the well known ‘Let the Sun Shine’, ‘Aquarius’ and ‘I Got Life’.
When ‘Hair’ moved to Broadway after off-Broadway performances at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre, it played over 1500 performances on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre starring James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Lynn Kellogg, and Sally Eaton. It was revived on Broadway in 1977 at the Biltmore Theatre starring Randall Easterbrook, Michael Holt, Ellen Foley and Iris Rosenkrantz.

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